Dylan Volantis snubbed for end-of-year award for second straight season

As the All-American honors and individual awards flood in for the Texas baseball team, one award will be missing from the trophy case yet again.

Also read: Jim Schlossnagle won't forget who built the Texas program he's taking back to the CWS

Despite being named as a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award for a second straight season, Texas Longhorns pitcher Dylan Volantis was left off the list of finalists, even after helping the Horns return to the College World Series for the first time since 2022.

2026 Golden Spikes Award finalists

• Roch Cholowsky, shortstop, UCLA Bruins
• Landon Hairston, outfielder, Arizona State Sun Devils
• Daniel Jackson, catcher, Georgia Bulldogs

Despite both UCLA and Arizona State missing out on the College World Series in Omaha, both teams have a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award in Roch Cholowsky, who was also a semifinalist last season, and Landon Hariston.

The Georgia Bulldogs claim the third finalist in catcher Daniel Jackson, who the Longhorns will face in Game 1 of their CWS run.

Comparing infielders or outfielders to pitchers is difficult, but it's also incredibly hard to defend the Golden Spikes voters for including two players who fell well short of Omaha while omitting star players like Volantis from the finalists.

Also read: Texas baseball sees favorable College World Series odds

This season, Volantis earned 10 wins, while suffering just one loss on the mound, pitching 88.2 innings for the Horns. He gave up a minimal 21 runs, earning a 2.03 ERA on the season, so far. Not to mention, he racked up 126 strikeouts while only allowing 63 hits and an even more impressive two home runs.

While Volantis might not win the Golden Spikes Award, he's not left entirely wanting for postseason honors.

Both Volantis and fellow Texas pitcher Sam Cozart were named to Perfect Game USA's All-American First Team. Additionally, Cozart was named the NCBWA National Freshman Pitcher of the Year, earning a place on the first-team roster alongside Longhorn star freshman Anthony Pack Jr.

While not everyone on Texas's roster could make the All-American first team, Aiden Robbins and Carson Tinney also earned All-America honors from Perfect Game and the NCBWA on Wednesday.

Volantis, Cozart, Pack, and the rest of the Horns are set to face the Georgia Bulldogs in their first College World Series game of the year. The two SEC powerhouses are scheduled to play at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday, June 13, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.

Georgia and Texas didn't share a diamond in the regular season or in the SEC Tournament. The last time the two teams met was in the 2025 regular season, when the Longhorns swept the Bulldogs 3-0 in their series.

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